Extraordinary advances are being made in micromechanical devices and microelectronic devices. Further, advances are being made in MicroElectroMechanical (“MEMs”) devices, which comprise integrated micromechanical and microelectronic devices. The terms “microcomponent” and “microdevice” will be used herein generically to encompass microelectronic components, micromechanical components, as well as MEMs components. Generally, microcomponent devices are devices having a size below one millimeter by one millimeter. Although, microcomponents as large as one centimeter by one centimeter have been provided in the prior art. Moreover, microcomponents may be smaller than one millimeter by one millimeter in size.
Various techniques for fabricating microcomponents are known in the prior art, and further fabrication techniques continue to be developed. Examples of fabrication techniques that may be utilized for fabricating microcomponents are further disclosed in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/569,330 entitled “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SELF-REPLICATING MANUFACTURING STATIONS” filed May 11, 2000 and co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/616,500 entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONSTRAINING TOTALLY RELEASED MICROCOMPONENTS” filed Jul. 14, 2000, the disclosures of which have been incorporated herein by reference. Further examples of techniques for fabricating microcomponents are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,740,410 issued to Muller et al. entitled “MICROMECHANICAL ELEMENTS AND METHODS FOR THEIR FABRICATION,” U.S. Pat. No. 5,660,680 issued to Chris Keller entitled “METHOD FOR FABRICATION OF HIGH VERTICAL ASPECT RATIO THIN FILM STRUCTURES,” and U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,684 issued to Chris Keller entitled “MULTILAYER HIGH VERTICAL ASPECT RATIO THIN FILM STRUCTURES.”
Such fabrication techniques generally have a “minimum feature size,” which specifies the minimum amount of spacing that can be defined between separate components during fabrication. For instance, such minimum feature size may specify a minimum width of the smallest line (or gap) that may be included in a design when utilizing lithography (e.g., optical lithography or x-ray lithography). While fabrication techniques have evolved to generally reduce the required minimum feature size in accordance with Moore's law, and it is generally expected that the minimum feature size will continue to be reduced in the future in accordance with Moore's law. It is often desirable to further reduce the spacing between components beyond that available during the fabrication process (e.g., beyond the required minimum feature size of a fabrication process). For example, techniques for fabricating microcomponents are available that require a minimum feature size of approximately one micron (a micron, abbreviated μm, is one-millionth of a meter or 10−6 m). Accordingly, utilizing such fabrication process, microcomponents are generally separated from each other by at least approximately 1 μm. It is often desirable to reduce such separation distance after the microcomponents are fabricated.
Turning to FIG. 1A, an example of microcomponents being fabricated on a substrate (e.g., a wafer) 100 according to a fabrication process requiring a minimum feature size is shown. For instance, microcomponents 102 and 103 are fabricated, which are required to be separated by a distance equal to or greater than the minimum feature size (MFS) required by the particular fabrication process utilized. For instance, fabrication techniques are available in which such MFS is approximately 1 μm, in which case microcomponents 102 and 103 must be fabricated with a separation distance of at least 1 μm. Of course, it may be desirable to reduce such separation distance between microcomponents 102 and 103. For example, microcomponents 102 and 103 may be gears having teeth that are intended to interlock. For instance, it may be desirable for the teeth of microcomponent 102 to interlock with teeth of microcomponent 103, in the manner shown in FIG. 1B, so that motion from one microcomponent may be transferred to the other. Of course, such microcomponents 102 and 103, as fabricated, with a separation of at least the minimum feature size of the particular fabrication process utilized, does not result in the desired interlocking of the microcomponents' teeth. Therefore, a desire often exists for a post-fabrication method for reducing such spacing between microcomponents.